Kennie’s Playhouse presents staged reading

While the Nashville audience awaits the new season of plays at Kennie Playhouse Theater, they have a chance to enjoy this weekend a live staged reading of Nathan Lewis Jackson’s “Broke-Ology.” This is part of a gala that combines a grand opening, community night, and a fundraiser. The reading will feature Paj Jackson Jr., Clark Harris, Joel Diggs, and Alishia Marshall. Things get underway at 4 p.m. and continue until 6:30 p.m. at their headquarters, 1925 Herman Street. “Broke-ology” is the story of two sons at crossroads. Their mother died years before, and their father is getting increasingly feeble as a result of multiple sclerosis. The older son, Malcolm, managed to escape the poverty of their hardscrabble neighborhood. He’s back from grad school to help take care of his father, but he wants to move to another city and further his career. The younger brother, happy-go-lucky Ennis, has remained at home, but now his girlfriend is pregnant, and he’s scrambling to get more shifts at his dead-end restaurant job—and chafing at the increased responsibility he faces. Jackson, who grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, has described the play as “a little bit of fiction mixed with real-life things.” It’s been...